Curriculum

Our interdisciplinary program is open to students in any UW-Madison graduate degree program. Through classes, team projects, and extracurricular opportunities, students will engage with technical, economic, political, and social factors that shape energy policy formulation and decision-making. We examine current topics in energy resources, energy market structures and practices, traditional public utilities, energy technology, energy and environmental linkages, energy and environmental policy, and energy services. The curriculum acquaints students with relevant skills, including: quantitative analysis of energy issues, technology assessment, life-cycle analysis, business analysis, and environmental quality assessment.

EAP is not available as a stand-alone graduate degree. If students want an education focused only on EAP classes, the Nelson Institute's Environment and Resources (MS or PhD) program provides complete curriculum overlap with the EAP certificate.

ELIGIBILITY AND PREREQUISITES

EAP welcomes applications from students in any graduate degree program at UW-Madison. Generally, applicants to EAP should have completed at least one college-level course in each of the following subjects:

one college course in physical science (physics or chemistry)

one college course in natural science (biology, environmental, geology or atmospheric and oceanic)

one college course in economics

one additional course in social sciences or humanities

one college course in calculus or statistics

Occasionally, students lacking some of the prerequisites are admitted to the program, and the EAP Faculty Committee recommends courses to compensate for deficiencies.

Each EAP student must complete six courses (18 credits) including:

an introductory course on energy analysis

one course each in energy policy, energy economics and business, energy technology, and environmental studies

and a capstone group project for a real client

By entering EAP early in their graduate studies and planning carefully, students can select courses that satisfy both their degree programs and EAP requirements. Students may select courses from the list below to satisfy the requirements. Each semester, EAP provides a list of course offerings for the upcoming semester (PDF).

SATISFACTORY PROGRESS

EAP students are expected to develop a study plan during their first semester, indicating which courses they expect to take. Students must maintain a grade-point average of at least 3.0 in their six EAP courses, with a minimum grade of BC in any one course.

Students accepted into the program should receive email notification within 3 weeks of the receipt of their completed application. Upon acceptance, new EAP students will be added to the EAP listserve. The listserve is the primary vehicle for communications among members of the EAP community: students, faculty and staff.